


Harmless Threat

by UbiquitousMixie



Category: Nurse Jackie (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-14
Updated: 2014-05-14
Packaged: 2018-01-24 20:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1616234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UbiquitousMixie/pseuds/UbiquitousMixie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why does Kevin hate O’Hara so much?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Harmless Threat

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2010.

Kevin cleared away the empty beer bottles that littered the bar top before running a rag over the circles of sweat left behind. He scanned the crowd and smiled, pleased to see that he finally had a full house. 

“Whaddya say we get a few more screens?” he asked Jackie as she sucked barbeque sauce from her fingers. “This could be a real sports bar.” 

Jackie, as always, remained blank as she considered his proposal. “Is that the direction you want the bar to go in? That’s a pretty specific niche group you’ll be catering to.” 

He shrugged, already feeling his balls tighten within her grasp. “A niche group that’ll buy lots of beer and wings.” 

Jackie raised an eyebrow. 

“Just a thought. We seem to be doing pretty well tonight with the game on and everything.” 

“I’m with Jacks on this one,” interjected Eleanor, leaning slightly closer to her friend. “You’ll certainly lose this patron if you devote yourself entirely to your rowdy sports clientele.” 

Kevin refrained from pointing out that it wouldn’t be a great loss to lose her patronage even despite the dough she spent on whiskey, but glanced instead at Jackie as she nodded in agreement with her friend. He sighed, knowing he’d be outnumbered. 

“Y’know, Kevin,” Eleanor said, draining the rest of her whiskey, “it’d be brilliant if you invested in a better jukebox. How much fun would it be to dance here after a few, eh?” She playfully tapped his arm. “I’ll even loan you the money to replace that ancient thing.” 

“I don’t see anyone else itching to dance,” Kevin pointed out. “They’re all pretty absorbed in the game.”

“Well, that’s because they’re too shy!” Eleanor slipped from her stool and grabbed Jackie’s hand with an ease that suggested it happened all the time. “Let’s show ‘em how it’s done!” 

“I’m not much of a dancer,” Jackie protested. 

“Nonsense!” 

To Kevin’s surprise, Jackie permitted herself to be pulled in the direction of the music machine. She slipped a few of her own quarters into the slot, allowed Eleanor to select a few songs, and began to sway awkwardly when the music started. Eleanor threw her head back and laughed and grabbed Jackie’s hips, forcing her into a rhythm that matched the song and the sway of her own body. 

Kevin watched as the two women danced together, as Jackie rolled her eyes at Eleanor’s enthusiasm, and as Eleanor pressed herself closer as they moved. A feeling of unease settled over him then and he took a deep breath, unable to explain why he was so uncomfortable watching this display. Women had that sort of easy intimacy, the kind where they went to the bathroom together in droves and fussed over each other’s hair and nettled in topics that didn’t concern them. He certainly didn’t get it and he was glad not to have that sort of predisposition when it came to other guys. Women could be close like that without it being weird. But this…something about this felt different. 

He’d never really taken Jackie for the type to succumb to the peer pressure of her friends. He’d certainly never seen it happen before. It was different with O’Hara. She had access to Jackie that not even he had, and he was her goddamn husband. 

A man came up to the bar and asked for a Heineken, drawing Kevin’s attention away from his wife, and he filled the order with a furrowed brow and a forced smile on his face. When he looked back at Jackie, the two women were joined by several others who were seemingly bored with their male partners’ rapt focus on the game. Eleanor tore her eyes from Jackie long enough to smirk and wink at him. 

He twisted the rag in his fist and fumed. He hated admitting that Eleanor was right, hated admitting that he would have to spend money he didn’t have on a jukebox that didn’t eat quarters, hated that Eleanor’s hands were roving dangerously close to Jackie’s ass, and hated that Eleanor was the person that Jackie confided in more than anyone else – more than him. 

Kevin wasn’t a jealous guy. He trusted his wife; he’d never really had a reason not to. He found it slightly disturbing that, as O’Hara leaned in close to whisper into Jackie’s ear, he was resentful of their closeness. It wasn’t like he felt threatened--Jackie would never cheat on him, especially with a woman. Nevertheless, he couldn’t deny that he was jealous of Eleanor’s money and power. She seemed to be everything that Kevin wasn’t, and it irked the hell out of him that Jackie was so drawn to her. 

Okay. Maybe he was a little threatened. At least O’Hara was a harmless threat—a posh, arrogant, holier-than-thou harmless threat. 

Watching as O’Hara eased Jackie into a spin and a dip, Kevin poured himself a shot of Jack. He knocked it back as he stared fixedly while the other woman’s hands slid along his wife’s waist and hips. He drank another when he noticed the color in Jackie’s cheeks and the smile on her face. It was a look he hadn’t seen in a long time. 

Why was it that he suddenly felt like he had competition? 

He knew he was being crazy. He knew he was creating a problem where one didn’t exist. He knew it didn’t matter one way or the other, because Eleanor was Jackie’s closest friend and that would never change. 

All he knew was that he really, really didn’t like Eleanor O’Hara and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. 

\---


End file.
